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Yup, I'm new! Hi!

Hello! I just joined and am thrilled to be here.

I'm Lucy. I'm a senior in college, from Kansas but going to school in Minnesota. At home, my family has a wonderful 9-year-old blenheim Cavalier, Vanity, pictured in my avatar if that did indeed upload correctly. (edited to say: well, apparently the picture I uploaded was HUGE, so I put up a smaller version instead - smaller than I'd like, but it'll do for now.)

Vanity was shown as a puppy; when she got a bit older, her breeder decided that she would be better suited to live with a family, so we adopted her as a pet when she was eighteen months old. This was when I was in 8th grade. Part of me can't believe we've had her so long, because I still think of her as a new dog! Maybe this is because getting her was the first time that I experienced having a new pet. My parents had gotten our previous dog (who lived until I was in 6th grade) a few years before I was born.

It has been interesting to see how much better-known Cavaliers have become in the time we have had Vanity. When we first got her, people always asked (I'm sure you're all familiar with this!) if she was a young cocker spaniel. By now, many people either already know she's a Cavalier or say they've heard of the breed when we tell them.

I'm just going to keep blabbering on...feel free to ignore if this is getting too long... :P

Vanity has always been a quiet dog. One of my mom's criteria for a dog was that she didn't want a yappy one. I could probably count on one hand the number of times I've heard Vanity bark. We trained her to ask to go outside by ringing bells on the back door, which has worked out quite well. Interestingly, Vanity went deaf a couple of years after we got her. She definitely wasn't at the beginning, but eventually, my dad realized that her ignoring him when he called to her in the backyard to come inside wasn't actually intentional, and the vet confirmed that she was deaf. This was sad, but Vanity doesn't seem any less happy, so that's good.

A little less than three years ago, we added two orange-and-white tabby kittens to our family. Despite being a very submissive dog, Vanity fairly quickly established herself as the matriarch among our pets. The cats know not to bother her too much. On the whole, they all get along pretty well. Plus, even though this wasn't intentional, we realized they match - what with Vanity being blenheim and the cats being orange-and-white. Amusingly, they also all match our house - wood floors and white walls.

Okay, that's enough for now; I should be asleep since this whole spring-forward thing means it's actually almost 3 AM...eep!

Hello Lucy. Welcome to the board. I know what you mean about losing the hour. I went to sleep at midnight and three hours later, I get woken by a child with a nightmare and it's 4:00 a.m. Love the name vanity. I look forward to hearing more about her, she's adorable.

Vanity is the call name that she came with; the breeder said that we could change it if we wanted, but we thought it was cute and unique.

And as it turns out, when we got vanity plates for both our cars, we named them after her. One just says "Vanity," which people probably just think is a play on the fact that it's a vanity plate (hey, it works for that, too), and the other is "Tunavan." Someone once asked my parents if we own Starkist or something...but nope, Tunavan is just one of Vanity's many nicknames. The evolution went something like this: Vanity --> Vanitoo --> Tunavan.

edit: Also (oh! I am so talkative and so not sleeping!), I can't believe I haven't mentioned it - Vanity and my dad volunteer for an organization in Kansas City called Pets for Life (http://kcpetsforlife.com/). Vanity used to visit people in retirement homes and now visits emotionally disturbed children at a center where they live on a temporary basis. She absolutely loves this work, because she loves people! And people really seem to love her. Here's a picture of her, my dad, and a woman they visited.

Welcome to the board Lucy! You will find that there are a GREAT bunch of people here and and the amount of information available here on this breed is astounding! And Vanity (LOVE that name!) looks great. Always nice to see the dogs that are getting up in years.

So how long have you been here Minnesota and what are you majoring in?

BTW, if you ever need a Cavalier fix, just PM me. My wife Kris and I live in Minnetonka and always welcome visitors to our dogs. Especially the puppies; socialization is so important with the pups.

Lucy that's a fantastic picture of Vanity, your dad and that lucky senior who got the chance to meet Vanity. This past election day I took Tucker with me while I was out campaigning, holding a sign at a senior center where they also had voting. Tucker drew quite a bit of attention, everyone wanted to pat him.

Welcome to the board Lucy! You will find that there are a GREAT bunch of people here and and the amount of information available here on this breed is astounding! And Vanity (LOVE that name!) looks great. Always nice to see the dogs that are getting up in years.

So how long have you been here Minnesota and what are you majoring in?

BTW, if you ever need a Cavalier fix, just PM me. My wife Kris and I live in Minnetonka and always welcome visitors to our dogs. Especially the puppies; socialization is so important with the pups.

Hi Bruce! I've been in MN since I started at Carleton in 2003. I'm majoring in cognitive science and graduating in June. I can't believe it... four years have gone by too fast!!

Thank you...it would be amazing to get to spend time with Cavaliers. Unfortunately, I don't have a car so travelling's tricky and I usually just end up hanging around Northfield.